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With exactly one year to go until Tokyo 2020 kicks off, here is a look at how ready the host city is for the Olympic Games.

Tickets

Tokyo 2020 organisers have used a staggered system to sell tickets, with first priority given to those within Japan before a secondary sale to people who live overseas.

Japanese residents were able to take part in a lottery system, with more than 7.5 million people registering. The first phase of ticket allocations were announced in June, with 3.2 million tickets sold.

Overseas tickets are sold via authorised sellers. People in Britain looking to purchase tickets must do so via the Team GB Live website.

Venues

The core focus of Olympic activity will take place in two zones in the heart of Tokyo. The Tokyo Bay zone features a number of new venues built entirely for these Olympics, largely on previously unused brownfield sites. The neighbouring Heritage Zone reuses old facilities previously used for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The Athletes’ Village sits at the point the two zones intersect.

The new 68,000-seater Olympic Stadium has been built on exactly the same footprint as the previous National Stadium, which was the focal point for the 1964 Games. The new venue is on track to be completed by this November, ahead of test events.

Unlike at the London 2012 Games, there is no centralised Olympic Park, with all venues sitting apart from each other.

As has been the case with previous Olympic host cities, a number of events will take place outside Tokyo, with cycling and surfing some distance away. Football matches will be held throughout Japan.

Of the 43 venues to be used at the Games, eight are new, 25 existing and 10 temporary. More than half the new venues are already complete, with only the aquatics centre construction due to run over into next year.

Tokyo last held the Olympics in 1964Credit:
AP

Transport

As Tokyo is already one of the busiest cities in the world, there is some concern about how an already strained transport system will cope with the addition of hundreds of thousands of people for the Olympics. The organisers’ answer is simple: ask local people to stop travelling at key times.

It may sound bizarre to other nations, but Tokyo 2020 organisers are hoping to tap into a strong national pride that exists in Japan, with the hope that people will do all they can for the Games to be a success.

Dedicated Games lanes are unlikely to be employed in the city, although that is yet to be confirmed. Instead, organisers will ask people to avoid driving at rush hours and businesses to conduct deliveries at night. They claim a 15 per cent reduction in traffic is all they require to achieve a smooth road transport network. Organisers expect spectators to use the city’s extensive rail network to get around.

A seven-week test period has been implemented from July 22 to September 6 this year with more than half a million people being asked to work from home as a trial scheme to see how it affects transport congestion.

Public support

Support for Tokyo 2020 seems to be strong if judged purely by the numbers of people who have applied to play a role or attend the Games.

More than 200,000 people applied to fill the 110,000 volunteer places at the Olympics and Paralympics, while ticket applications were so oversubscribed that the deadline had to be extended by 12 hours due to such a high volume of traffic on the website.

The mere fact that organisers believe they need only to ask people not to use their cars rather than provide any other incentive also suggests the local population is broadly happy with playing host.

As often happens with hosting major events, the overspend has gone into the many billions, which has lessened mass support across the country. There have also been reports of violations of human rights among workers at some of the new venues being built.

More than 200,000 people applied to fill the 110,000 volunteer places at the Olympics and ParalympicsCredit:
AP

Innovations

With Japan’s status as one of the world’s leading electronics innovators, Tokyo 2020 will feature a number of innovative elements, many of which are yet to be announced. Robotics will be used extensively - futuristic-looking electric golf carts will transport people around venues and facial recognition will be used for media and workers.

There have been major concerns about the heat after temperatures of 41 degrees last summer resulted in the death of almost 100 people. To mitigate another heat wave the marathons will begin at 6am and the entire route has been painted with a special substance, which organisers claim reduces the road surface temperature and therefore air temperature immediately above it by up to eight degrees.

There has been great emphasis placed on sustainability, with more than six million old mobile phones and other small electronic devices collected around Japan from which the 5,000 Olympic and Paralympic medals will be produced.

The podiums will also be made from recycled waste, with organisers asking Japanese people to donate their plastic waste.